Immigration Policy Changes May Impact Our Industry

On February 20, Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, released memorandum for the implementation of President Trump’s January 25 Executive Order entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States”. The Executive Order provides guidance to relevant federal agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), regarding the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. The document released by Secretary Kelly establishes Administration enforcement priorities, including detention decisions, budget requests and strategic planning. The Administration has stated that mass deportations are not the goal of the just-announced policies, but there remains significant concern within the immigrant community that far more deportations will be carried out than previously. In fact, DHS has stated they will hire an additional 15,000 immigration officers as part of these increased enforcement activities. According to experts in the immigration legal field, under this order and previous orders, virtually every agricultural worker who is working under false documents is probably “removable” and the language relative to employers is not encouraging.

United Fresh will soon be providing further updates and analysis of the ramifications of the announced policies for the fresh produce industry. For any additional information or questions, contact Robert Guenther, United Fresh Senior Vice President for Public Policy at rguenther@unitedfresh.org or Julie Manes, Director of Government Relations at jmanes@unitedfresh.org.

More information on the Executive Order and the accompanying memorandum can be found using the following links: